3. The periphery comprises what has been called the “Third World,” a term with a dominantly political connotation that emerged in the 1950s, as many societies sought to distinguish themselves from the “First” and “Second” worlds – that is, those in the capitalist or communist blocs, respectively. The core-periphery concept was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein in his influential Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York: Academic Press, 1974).

It may be added that in the era of Great Britain and also in that of the United States, nations have of course moved from periphery to core, at least in some sense: today, for example, the “NICs” or “NIEs” (newly-industrializing countries or economies), such as South Korea or Brazil, do not easily fit anywhere; nor do they have the power to act so as to continue to move up without the considerable assistance and approval of the politics and the economics of  the core.